I realize, although it is possible you didn't, that last week you most likely didn't get an update from me. But hey, that is the first one I've missed since the beginning of September, and that's not bad.
Visitors from afar
Last Wednesday night my sister, brother-in-law, and niece came to visit. It was great to have Californians here, and even better to have relatives that pay for everything. Another advantage of their presence was that I got to take three days off of school and we got to go visit other parts of the country.
On Thursday night we went to Volcan Masaya and the bat caves. I'd been there before in the daytime, but when you go at night you get to see all the bats flying out of their caves to find food. Us brave people (not Jeremy), went to stand by the entrance while thousands of bats flew out around us into the dark. I like bats better outside than in my apartment. Also at night you can go to the far side of the volcano where you can look over the edge and see the lava in the center of the crater. There was no fence or anything to keep us from going too far just a post. Definitely in the states it would have been a lot more secure. However, they did make sure to tell us to back into our parking space for quick getaway in case of an eruption.
We also went to a beach on the Pacific coast, lake Nicaragua, a few markets, and out to a lot of meals. They left this morning and I am now officially exhausted.
Trials and Testing
Last Friday I had to give my classes quarterly exams. I asked Matthew if I was able to fail all of my students, he said no. Today I had to give them re-takes. Their re-take was me writing the correct answers on the board and them copying them. Still some of them got in the 70's. Tomorrow I have to turn in grades. My roommate just told me that it is OK to mark students' participation grades down if they annoy me. I need to not take advantage of that freedom. Have I mentioned I don't like children?
What part of America am I in?
So this morning started off a little rough. I was really unprepared and when I got to school I couldn't find my driver so I ended up being late for class. Then I found out about the whole grades being due tomorrow thing so I had that in the back of my mind the whole day. But school actually ended up being fine. Then, when I was getting driven home, I had this great idea of getting dropped off at Jeremy and Cristina's to get their car and then going to the new coffee shop down the street to grade papers. It was just like life in the states but even better because I had an amazing turkey panini and iced caramel macchiato for only $4.50. The owners of the coffee shop are from Sanoma County and you can go in there and totally forget you live in one of the poorest countries in the world. I'm considering applying for a job there.
Pop-Culture
This afternoon at 2:00 I had tutoring with the Koreans. It has been getting a lot better because I am worrying less about finding grammar worksheets and am focusing more on conversation and watching Saved by the Bell. Was that show ever meant to be taken seriously? Because I just try to suppress my laughter the entire time, especially during the sentimental times (I think this habit carries over quite strongly into my real life).
Conversations with my students are definitely interesting. Talking to the two younger ones is hard but the oldest one is fairly proficient. Today she asked me who Anna Nicole Smith was and why she was so popular (good question). She saw Larry King talking about her last night and took pictures of the TV screen so I could explain to her who the people were. Luckily freshman year of college we spent many hours watching the The Anna Nicole Show so I had a lot to say. Next she asked me if I like Angelina Jolie. My opinion wasn't as firmly established on this one so I took the opportunity to talk about Proverbs 31:30 the whole charm being deceitful and beauty fleeting thing. It really is ridiculous how much of my brain is wasted on celebrity gossip (or I guess any gossip), I claim to believe that Christ in me is the hope of glory but really so much garbage goes into how I perceive people or myself.
Off to Work I Go
That's about all I can think of to share with you right now, plus I need to finish calculating grades. F F F.
Love, Joy
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